Lives of the Immortals
by Tsubasa K. Kruger
Summary: Snippets that didn't make it into War of the Immortals. Some happen before it began and others are set during its timeline; some are the author's way of indulging on Worldbuilding and others will be thrown there simply because they wouldn't serve any purpose to the main story other than as filler.
1. December 1993

**Disclaimer:** **Victorious belongs to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon. Anything in this story that isn't part of the canon universe either belongs to Tsubasa K. Kruger or to someone else who will be appropriately credited in the corresponding chapter.**

 **Note: This story contains pieces that didn't make it into War of the Immortals; therefore, it is highly recommended to have at least begun to read it. Some chapters will need the reader to have read up until a certain chapter of WOTI, in which case it will be pointed out in a note at the beginning.**

* * *

 _ **December 28, 1993. Pennsylvania, USA.**_

Holly Vega, nee Reeves, had never felt as deeply terrified as she felt right in this moment – giving birth to her first child, a baby daughter she and David had long since wanted and prepared for, her husband at her side gripping her hand and touching her shoulder... all the while three predators took control of the room, having just entered as if they owned the place.

She had absolutely no clue who they were, but she knew _what_ they were.

Demons.

The bright ruby eyes of the woman at the middle, clearly of a higher rank than the others, stared at her directly, cold and filled with contempt, while her companions knocked the medical staff out swiftly and efficiently.

Why were they here? She hadn't seen red eyes in over two decades, not since she refused to nudge a recovering alcoholic, recently widowed father of three to pick up a bottle of scotch – something she _knew_ , even at the age of six, would've resulted in the man returning to his vices and at best neglecting his young children.

She'd been living on Earth for going on twenty-two years, since she was judged guilty of the supreme crime of not being a terrible person and it was decided she deserved to be banished.

Holly had been left alone ever since then, having had to find her feet on her own in an unfamiliar place where, despite understanding the language, she was seen as one of countless orphaned kids running around the streets – and one who spoke with a weird accent to boot. Only the fact that she'd concealed her red eyes with magic kept her from looking _completely_ out of place.

She'd managed on her own for a whole year until she was taken into one of many orphanages in eastern Puerto Rico, and then she was adopted by a completely normal American family at eight and taken to live in the mainland, where she'd effectively made a completely normal life for herself.

But now she was being glared at by a woman who couldn't be anything but a Demon, an Assassin judging by the red in her salt-and-pepper hair and the extensive amount of tattoos covering her visible skin, while a pair who were evidently of the same profession controlled the room within seconds of their sudden entrance.

In the middle of a silence not even broken by Holly, no matter how much her pain was threatening to make her cry out, the woman sneered and spoke in the cultured and rich voice of a high-born singer.

"My own flesh and blood."

She was speaking in Ancient, Holly noticed faintly. The only reason she understood, she guessed, was that every language on Earth was simply a dialect of Ancient, some more different than others but all with the same roots – she didn't need to remember Ancient to understand it, regardless of how the grammar and vocabulary confused her.

Regardless, the woman could've been speaking in a made-up language and she would've understood – her disdain was clear.

David's hand tightened in Holly's, and when she glanced over at him she noticed him deathly pale, looking at the Demon across from them as if he'd seen a ghost–

Holly didn't recognize the woman.

But David... David was also adopted.

"Mother" he whispered, confirming Holly's growing suspicions at the same time she felt a freight train knock into her lungs.

He was a Fallen Demon– a child of Hell who'd rejected its teachings, betrayed its King.

They were the same.

Disgusted eyes turned on him next.

"Oathbreaker. Know your sire is as disappointed in you as I am. Your only saving grace is that you managed to find another filth to bond with and continue his line."

"Mother, what–"

"Don't call me that disgusting human term, boy, you rejected the ties to your blood the moment you chose to go against your orders. But no matter, your progeny will live up to your sire's name."

Holly was pale before the woman had finished speaking, because she instinctively understood – Hell cared not for half-blooded Demons, she'd known that since she was a child, but their daughter wasn't a half-blood.

No, the baby that was just now coming into the world was a full-blooded Demon – she carried no mortal blood in her veins.

And it was worse than that, because while Holly's birth parents must've been average at best (something she was sure of even if she didn't even remember her own birth name anymore, let alone her birth family) it was quickly becoming clear that David had been born in a golden crib – it couldn't be any other way, for the woman before her (his _mother_ ) was evidently powerful and there was no way a Demon like that would marry below her station.

Just like that, without need of another word leaving the woman's lips, Holly knew of her purpose in coming to this completely normal human hospital – she was here to take their baby away.

David's birth mother seemed to see the horrified realization take over her face, and snapped a hand gesture before she even could open her mouth – to magically silence her, the only part of Holly that was still free of the grip of panic pointed out almost hysterically.

Before any of them could react, the pair with the woman stepped forward and forcefully pulled a similarly silenced David away from Holly. He struggled, but all that gave him was a harsh blow to the head and a push towards the wall, where cement seemed to melt away and around his body, immobilizing his dizzy form.

Holly tried to move, though she wasn't sure what she could've done to avoid what was inevitably going to happen, but she was being held down with an unrelenting grip.

"Kramlov, stay here with the boy. See to it that no filth nears this room" she ordered the broad man with her, before turning to the other female Demon. "Rhas, transport her. We must get to Tartarus before the child begins to crown or her aura might start to latch onto Earth's. Be careful, we do not want any harm to come to a noble child."

"Of course, my Lady" the younger Demon answered.

If asked, Holly would never be able to tell what exactly happened later. She'll only know that she was picked off the bed by surprisingly strong arms, and then a strange dizziness washed over her in three waves before she was carefully deposited in a soft yet firm surface.

When her mind stopped spinning, she realized she was back in Hell.

The walls of the room were made of smooth stone bricks covered in tapestries, the floors rug-covered dark wood, a lighter colored door across the room from her position with a flaming fireplace on her left and a closed window on the right. They'd placed her on the only furniture in the room, a simple bed covered in linens, and quickly encased her hands in metal cuffs attached to the wall by long enough chains that they didn't impede her movement.

Other than the two women who'd kidnapped her, there were two other people in the room – unremarkable middle-aged Demons dressed in simple grey clothes, one kneeling on the floor at the end of the bed and another standing at her left.

Right as Holly had finished taking stock of her surroundings, but before her dizzy brain could process anything (let alone react) the door opened and two more Demons stepped in, both wearing the same long black coat as David's birth mother.

She only needed one of the men coming to stand next to the foul woman by the fireplace to know who he was – he couldn't have been anyone but David's birth father. There, standing side by side, she could easily spot which of her husband's features had come from which progenitor – it terrified her to know that a part of her daughter would be as similar to these people as David was.

"How is it going?" the other, unknown high-ranking Demon asked.

"The child is eager to greet Tartarus, Lord Ikrel" the Demon kneeling at the foot of the bed spoke. "It won't be long now."

"I've taken the liberty to flush the Oathbreaker's system of Human drugs, Lord Mias, Lady Rivot" the other told the couple by the fireplace. "They shouldn't have had the time to make their way into the child's system, but we will check her regardless as soon as she's born."

The man inclined his head at that statement, his eyes glued to Holly's face.

"Well," he said in a deep voice as rich and cultured as the woman's, "it seems the boy wasn't a complete waste after all. Lowborn you may be, but the magic in your bloodline is strong enough that my line's magic won't be weakened, and your physical appearance doesn't seem to have much chance of ruining the child. Your sire and dame will be honored to know the Oathbreaker they birthed has managed to do _something_ good."

"Shall I contact them, my Lord?" Rhas, the woman who'd taken Holly, asked from her place at the window.

Mias seemed to think about it. "Not quite yet. We don't want them thinking they might have any claim to the child – you know how those upstart Puppeteers can be."

"Yes, my Lord."

He looked back at Holly, red eyes cold and disgusted. "It is your lucky day, Oathbreaker – your ties to that disgrace of my former heir will ensure you a long life. Or, well, at least longer than you would've had had you bonded to anyone else.

"The House of Gieri was in risk of ending, but you two will make up for the shame his banishment brought upon us by giving the House as many heirs as you can."

–o–

They didn't allow Holly to hold her daughter – they didn't even allow her to brush her fingers against the soft-looking feathers that encased her body, surrounding her like a protective cocoon and preventing any of them from taking a look at the newborn within.

(And likely doing something else, because although she didn't remember Demons being born with their wings completely wrapped around them she doubted it wasn't without purpose. But how hadn't they showed up on the ultrasounds?)

As soon as the baby's last physical link to her was severed, the tiny cocoon was taken to the side by one of the grey-robed Demons, where it was cleaned and checked over before being bundled up in a soft blanket and handed to her grandparents, who for once looked something other than cold and disgusted – now, as the woman held the cocooned baby and he held both, they looked impossibly proud, instantly adopting postures that screamed protective instincts.

That, if anything, told Holly that they would care for her daughter.

While they were completely enraptured with the newborn in their arms, the Demon who'd brought the baby into the world cleaned Holly up while the other, who'd first taken the baby, stood by the other high-ranking Demon and murmured to him as he scribbled on a notepad.

"What will be her name be, my Lord?" Ikrel asked after a momentary pause, looking up at the couple.

The new grandfather straightened his spine, somehow looking even prouder than before. The last words Holly heard before she was sent to sleep would stay with her for the next six years – until she could first see and hold her baby and say the name they'd wanted for her for the first time without it hurting.

The last words she heard were the name given to her daughter by the people who took her away.

"Itaria von Gieri."


	2. February 1995

_**February 19, 1995. Vaihe District, Tartarus.**_

The second heir for the House of Gieri came into the world on a pleasantly cold night.

There was no reason for her birth to not be a joyous event, as it meant the Noble House of Gieri was once again growing in number after years and years of dwindling to a singular elder whose bond was to a woman who'd lost all ability to have children during a skirmish against Archangels shortly after the birth of their youngest. No one faulted Lady el Svairnz for it, as she was the Knight of First at the time, but having been injured so while in service directly under their King didn't take from the fact that her bonded's House would see no more growth from him.

With the rest of Lord von Gieri's kin long since dead or unable to have heirs, hope for the House's continuity laid on their children since that moment forward – but then Idahiv was labeled as a _Zkhoerjae_ , Rhas was killed in the line of duty and Okhrei died in a training accident, all over the course of five years with none of the children having lived a full decade. Only Iekann, the youngest, lived past that mark, but the same Archangel that rendered his dame infertile would kill him at sixteen, almost fifteen years after the firstborn's banishment.

With the House of Gieri reduced to just the Knight of Second, everyone thought the mighty, ancient, noble House that most Demons strongly believed was related to their King was doomed to disappear.

But now, the disgraced former heir had proven that their King hadn't been wrong to simply order him banished instead of executed, because he'd thus far given the bloodline two heirs to keep it alive – first Itaria and now a second baby. And he was young, too, so there was hope for more heirs.

So, yes, her birth was at the very least a source of relief, for it kept the House of Gieri from disappearing, but for the members of his bloodlines it was a source of quiet, fiercely proud joy.

The House of Svairnz had several members scattered through the Assassin districts, being the second most numerous Noble lineage right behind the House of Groumn, but they always felt pride when another child of their blood was born – even if the child carried another name, because they were the kind of bloodline to which that could happen only through the joining to one of the other five Noble Houses.

Twins Idahiv and Rhas von Gieri had been the first Svairnz to bear the Gieri name in seven generations, and the boy had brought shame to both his Houses – the first Svairnz to be banished in twenty-nine generations, and the first in the whole history of House Gieri.

But Itaria was a chance for the joint line of Gieri and Svairnz to be redeemed of Idahiv's treason, and this newborn gave the House of Svairnz another chance for that shame to be cleansed from their name.

Normally, when a Demon shamed their bloodline with banishment, the bloodline would cleanse their shame by murdering the traitor – but when murder wasn't possible (such as when the line in question had no Assassins), the bloodline needed to prove their collective loyalty by accumulating enough deeds that the honor would at least annul the shame.

Idahiv and his lover would not be killed by Tartarus, for they still had use in the possibility of future offspring (it was the only reason he hadn't been killed after he pledged himself to someone, as it almost always happened – Oathbreakers had a tendency to dirty themselves even further by laying with Humans, so Idahiv's pledge to another of his kind had bought both of them their lives for as long as they could conceive together), so until he stopped being useful it came to his progeny to help the Houses of Gieri and Svairnz cleanse themselves of treason.

So, yes, the Svairnz Assassins were proud to welcome another child of their bloodline into the world.

Her closest blood ties, however, were full of joy for another reason entirely.

Lady Rivot el Svairnz felt quiet joy at the fact that she had not failed her bonded. Their relationship, like most others within the Assassin class, had been born of lust and power struggles, but over time it had morphed until they felt genuine affection for one another, even if neither would openly admit it. But affection was nothing but useless when he was the last child of his House and she couldn't give him another heir.

Lord Mias von Gieri felt quiet joy at the fact that his House was no longer in a place of absolute vulnerability. With each passing day and each consecutive disaster since his firstborn's banishment his fear of what would become of his bloodline's legacy only grew, and that fear was only matched in intensity by his sadness of what his House's grim future was doing to his bonded.

None of them had ever quite gotten over the loss of their children, but now they were beginning to heal from a wound they hadn't realized was still wide open – because they were both Knights, the closest to King Lucifer, and they hadn't allowed themselves to mourn.

Not Idahiv's banishment, for they'd still had a six-year-old to care for, a toddler to teach and a baby to nurture. They didn't have time to lament his treason and wonder where they'd gone wrong with him, not while they feared one of the other children would inadvertently follow on his footsteps.

Not Rhas' death, as their third's Master was convinced he was almost ready to face his trials and their youngest was starting to learn how to control his magic. They couldn't mourn when it was evident their teachings hadn't been enough for their only girl to survive past childhood.

Not Okhrei's accident, because their youngest was close to being able to call upon his wings. There was no place for mourning when the last child of the bloodline was so _close_ to being taken out of their home by whoever would end up being his Master.

Not Iekann's murder, for they'd been too busy seeking revenge for their fallen heir. They felt mourning was not something they deserved until they could catch the Archangel who'd dared murder the last child of the House of Gieri and make the bastard _pay_.

But they'd never caught the man.

Oh, they'd gotten close – close enough to know his sickening self-entitled aura, to destroy his earthly home and kill the Humans he called kin (knowing that their child's murderer was of the kind who laid with mortals was even more enraging), but not close enough to know his face or his name and place a price on his head.

The Archangel had retired and gone into hiding, and they lost their chance to avenge Iekann.

Now, almost eight years after losing the last of their children, they could hold another chance at redemption, a small and defenseless newborn baby Demon who they'd need to nurture and teach to the best of their abilities until she was strong enough for Shaytan to assign a Master to her.

She was a wee thing, smaller than Itaria had been – they knew that such a thing was likely due to her dame being neglectful of her own health during the months leading to the young one's birth, but they couldn't be angry enough to kill the traitor in a fit of rage.

No, such a thing would have been not only rather counterproductive, since they were still hoping the woman would conceive more of their disgraced firstborn's heirs, but also a very ungrateful response to the lowbred traitor who'd somehow managed to birth two extremely strong heirs for House Gieri. A filth she may have been, but giving heirs to the House was still something that earned her a reward.

It was strange that the girls would be so magically strong even as newborns, Mias mused, with a lowborn Puppeteer filth as their dame. True Idahiv had been strong, anything else would've been unconceivable with all six Noble Houses in his immediate ancestry and two Knights as his progenitors, but surely it shouldn't have been possible for the offspring of his union to that woman to be even stronger than he'd been as a newborn.

It was all theoretically impossible, yet here the girls were – Mias chose to view this as Tartarus' blessing on the girls, a proof of its desire to see the House restored.

Itaria was awake when they arrived at the small building his bonded had claimed as home when she'd retired from active duty in order to look after the child. Mias couldn't even find it in himself to be annoyed at the one-year-old for staying up past her bedtime, or even angry at the pair of Prefects they'd left babysitting her – she'd known what was going on and had seemed rather excited, so he couldn't fault her for not going to bed.

That's not to say she wouldn't be grounded. Regardless of her reasons for staying up, the fact remained that she'd disobeyed. She needed to learn to follow orders, and the consequences for failing to.

Mias quietly dismissed the Prefects, most of his attention focused on the scene before him – Itaria's introduction to the new baby.

The toddler was completely besotted already, he could see it in the way she tried to stand on her tiptoes as if that would help her see the baby held in his bonded's arms.

Barely keeping a smile from showing, at least until the Prefects closed the door behind them, he strode forward and scooped Itaria off the ground, twisting her around so that she could be in the perfect position to get a good look at the newborn's face.

(Just like with Itaria, the baby's wings were retreating at a tremendously fast pace, exposing her to the aura of Tartarus far sooner than it was common even among Demonic nobility. It was nothing but further proof that both heirs had tremendous magical potential, that they had been blessed by Tartarus to help restore their House's honor.)

"She's your kin, Itaria," he murmured as he pressed his lips to her hair. "That means she's to be your responsibility. You will help us raise her into a proper child of Gieri."

"My kin?"

"Yes, young one. You'll help her make our King proud, won't you?"

Itaria nodded resolutely. "My responsibility."

Mias' smile could only grow, and he felt his chest expand with pride and affection when his bonded kissed the toddler's brow and taught her the one name they wanted to matter the most for her. Itaria scrunched up her nose, noticing that the baby's name was familiar, and thus pronounced it with a certainty that at one year of age she most often still lacked when she spoke.

"Rivot von Gieri."


End file.
